Who Wants to Be the Affectionate Cannon Fodder?! [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 43

[Re.: Good. Thank you for your concern.]

Beside him, Yu Lin had already fallen into a deep sleep, his breathing gradually becoming soft and rhythmic. Ning Jinghe set down his phone and gazed quietly at Yu Lin’s profile for a long time, his mind filled with a thousand swirling thoughts.

Five minutes later, he grabbed the quilt that Yu Lin was pinning down and gently draped it over him. His lips moved slightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent and left.

The next day included location shooting for Jinling City. Early in the morning, Yu Lin was once again dragged out of bed for makeup by a returning Zhou Yao.

He sat listlessly in front of the vanity mirror. His memory of the previous night was fragmented, cutting off abruptly at the private room in the restaurant; he had no recollection of what happened afterward.

He only remembered having a dream. In it, he saw Lin He again, returning to that torrential rainy day during the summer after senior year when Lin He had come to pick him up.

Yu Lin rubbed his throbbing temples with his fingertips. He took a sip of the iced Americano Zhou Yao handed him, and in an instant, his eyes, nose, and mouth scrunched together in a grimace.

“What is this? Iced traditional Chinese medicine?” Yu Lin hurriedly took a glass of water to wash away the sour, bitter taste, looking at Zhou Yao with a face full of resentment. “I want something sweet.”

He turned his head and saw Ning Jinghe walking in with a neutral expression, followed by his assistant. Seeing Yu Lin’s slightly “distorted” expression, Ning Jinghe paused for a moment before saying, “Good morning.”

Yu Lin tilted his head, puzzled. He wondered why Ning Jinghe was suddenly taking the initiative to greet him this morning.

Still, he quirked the corners of his mouth and replied, “Good morning, Brother.”

Zhou Yao held his phone, quickly scrolling through food delivery apps. “Xingzhuo, what kind of sweet drink do you want? Mung bean soup, fermented rice balls with osmanthus, or silver ear soup?”

Yu Lin gave him a complicated look. “Sweet water. Milk tea.”

“It is so early; nothing is open yet,” Zhou Yao said. “How about we pick something else?”

Yu Lin pouted reluctantly but had no choice but to agree. Before he could speak, Ning Jinghe took a cup of iced milk from a paper bag his assistant was holding and offered it to him.

“It came with the set meal,” Ning Jinghe said, looking at him. “Do you want it?”

Yu Lin blinked and took it without a word. He took a large gulp while holding the cup, his gaze drifting toward Ning Jinghe’s face.

He is a bit strange today, Yu Lin thought.

007, who had seen everything inside Yu Lin’s head the previous night, chose to remain silent.

Ning Jinghe’s scenes today were not with them. After finishing his makeup, Yu Lin took a car to the filming location alone.

The street scenes of Jinling City had been set up—a quaint, bustling marketplace with vendors and pedestrians passing through. Various stalls were spread out in a colorful array, and the din of overlapping voices rose and fell. Li Rui was overseeing the camera setups. When he saw Yu Lin arrive, he gave a lukewarm greeting and continued with his busy work.

Xiao Xiyun planned to use Xiao Jingyan—the idle second young master of the Marquis’s manor—as a starting point to investigate Xiao Jingke’s movements. Xiao Jingyan was naturally a restless soul; invited by a friend, he joyfully headed out. The two of them then encountered a farce in the market involving the nephew of a high official bullying commoners.

The first half of the scene focused primarily on Tang Mo. Yu Lin only needed to provide appropriate reactions behind her.

Xiao Jingyan’s early persona was that of a leisure-loving nobleman who did not involve himself in mundane affairs. He usually enjoyed boating, singing, and listening to storytelling in wine houses—the picture of an elegant, carefree gentleman. There wasn’t a shop or tavern in Jinling City he wasn’t familiar with.

Consequently, when filming began, Tang Mo hadn’t walked more than a few steps before the sound of Yu Lin sloppily greeting people echoed from behind her, leaving her caught between laughter and tears.

“Apologies, apologies, Sister Ningping! Auntie Ma insisted I try the peach shortbread she just made today. I got a bit greedy.” Yu Lin ran up, his eyes curving into a pitiful yet charming smile. Suddenly, he pulled out an oil-paper bag as if presenting a treasure and said to Tang Mo with a grin, “Why don’t you try some too? Auntie Ma’s skill is excellent. But we must save a little for my brother, even though he usually doesn’t like these things.”

Yu Lin’s expression was so sincere that he looked like a house pet. One could almost imagine a tail wagging vigorously behind him to show his affection and enthusiasm.

Tang Mo was a staunch “dog person” and an ultimate fan of beautiful faces. She couldn’t help herself; she reached out and ruffled Yu Lin’s hair.

She couldn’t help it; he was just a bit too cute.

In the next second, Li Rui frowned in front of the monitor, and Tang Mo belatedly realized something: the script didn’t say to do that.

Li Rui: “C—”

He hadn’t finished shouting “Cut” before he was interrupted by Yu Lin’s next move.

The smile on Yu Lin’s face widened, his eyes sparkling with life. “What is it? Is the Princess also envious that the Marquis of Anding has such a thoughtful younger brother like me?”

Tang Mo reacted instantly, following his rhythm. She flicked his forehead playfully and unceremoniously snatched the entire oil-paper bag from his hands into her arms. “Exactly! Since he doesn’t like it, this shortbread is all mine.”

Li Rui was silent for a few seconds before leaning back into his chair.

Filming continued.

Xiao Xiyun had been stationed in the Northwest for years and had lost all memory of this gentle “land of honey and milk” along the Qinhuai River. She suppressed her curiosity, observing the local customs while listening to Xiao Jingyan chatter about popular novels, plays, and the trendy items the city’s noble families were clamoring for.

This lasted until they reached the Moon-Watching Tower and encountered the profligate nephew of the Minister of Personnel. The man was ordering his servants to brutally drive away a young couple with a stall and was even insulting the delicate-looking woman.

Seeing the surrounding citizens keeping their distance and turning a blind eye, Xiao Xiyun intended to shout a reprimand. To her surprise, the sincere “puppy” beside her bolted out like a dog off its leash. He nimbly knocked down the servants and, with his hands on his hips, delivered a fierce scolding to the Minister’s nephew.

“Coward! What kind of skill is it to bully commoners? If you have the guts, come out and fight me!”

The Minister of Personnel came from a prestigious family. His nephew was used to acting like a tyrant based on his ancestors’ influence. He had clashed with Xiao Jingyan many times before, and now, being provoked in full view of everyone, he naturally refused to let it go to save face.

He just hadn’t expected to run into a “plague god” like Xiao Xiyun.

Even more unexpected was that Xiao Xiyun would use this farce to uncover a human trafficking and body-hiding case, which directly landed the Minister of Personnel in prison.

Of course, that happened later.

Yu Lin’s scenes were concentrated, and he spent two or three days filming, even working overtime to add close-ups and pick-up shots. He found no difficulty in playing Xiao Jingyan’s early persona; every time he entered a scene, it was as if another soul had instantly possessed him, making him entirely different from his real self.

Li Rui grew more satisfied the more he watched him, even expressing praise unreservedly in front of everyone. “Xingzhuo, keep up the good work. Although Xiao Jingyan doesn’t have a lot of screen time, I guarantee this one role will make you a viral sensation across the internet.”

Tang Mo, who was memorizing lines nearby, glanced up and said helplessly, “Director Li, aren’t you overpromising? You sound like a self-made capitalist tricking a fresh college graduate into working like a slave for you.”

Li Rui hummed arrogantly. “It is not yet time to truly exploit you.”

As a popular IP, The Song of the Broken Array had garnered significant attention since casting began. Marketing accounts had cycled through countless famous actors in their rumors, and the internet was flooded with both pessimistic and supportive articles. After filming started, it became a prime target for paparazzi. No matter how strict the security, they always found a way to leak “on-set photos.”

Li Rui was not old-fashioned; he viewed this as free publicity for the drama and generally didn’t care as long as it didn’t cause real trouble.

However, on Yu Lin’s fifth day on set, a marketing account suddenly dropped a bombshell. It claimed that Shen Xingzhuo was “teaching” the martial arts director how to do his job on the set of a hit historical drama and mentioned that he had previously refused to participate in the production’s martial arts training.

@MelonFieldWhispers: A scoop on a certain three-syllable “pretty vase” actor: He is currently filming a hot historical drama and is personally “instructing” the martial arts director on set. The director, fearing the capital behind him, dares not speak up and lets him run wild. The entire crew is working overtime for his scenes. He previously used the excuse of having few scenes to skip training, claiming he could just use a stunt double if he couldn’t handle the fights. I heard this character has quite a few fight scenes; I wonder if he will end up just being a “face-replacement” for the stunt actor.

Because the keywords were too obvious, the post immediately drew crowds. The hashtags #ShenXingzhuoSkipsTraining and #ShenXingzhuoTeachesMartialArtsDirector instantly trended.

People flooded in from all directions. Li Rui’s phone was nearly blown up with calls, making him so angry he pulled out his SIM card and stormed upstairs to knock on Yu Lin’s door.

The leak wasn’t entirely baseless, but Shen Xingzhuo’s past image was so deeply ingrained that the public made their judgments the moment they saw the headline.

The scene filmed the previous night involved Xiao Xiyun taking Xiao Jingyan to sneak into the Minister’s manor to collect evidence. They had prepared before leaving but hadn’t expected a martial arts expert to be hidden in the manor. Their tracks were easily discovered, a fierce fight broke out, and it ended with Xiao Jingyan getting injured as they retreated.

The initial choreography designed by the martial arts director was beautiful and fluid but lacked practical combat feel. It was designed for the screen and the actors’ physical limits, but the result could easily make an audience lose immersion.

So, Yu Lin had drastically changed several moves. For instance, he changed some mid-air spins into flying kicks. He even requested the wires be loosened during the scene where he fell while jumping over the manor wall, making the fall look real.

After Li Rui called “Cut,” Zhou Yao had rushed over in a panic. Upon lifting Yu Lin’s shirt, he found a large bruise on his waist that looked particularly gruesome against his pale skin.

But Yu Lin said nothing at the time, only asking calmly, “The effect was better than before, right?”

Li Rui felt a bit guilty, feeling exactly like the “exploitative capitalist” Tang Mo had described.

Li Rui rushed to Yu Lin’s room and happened to run right into Ning Jinghe coming from the other side of the corridor. Ning’s expression wasn’t great either; he had likely seen the trending topics.

However…

“I never noticed you were such a helpful person before,” Li Rui said curiously. “Caring so much about a co-star.”

Ning Jinghe held a spray bottle in his left hand and said neutrally, “I smelled the medicinal scent on him during our scenes today. His manager said he took a fall last night. I came to check on him.”

Li Rui glanced at the bottle of analgesic tincture and said nothing, though he couldn’t help but think: The guy already has medicine on. What is the point of this? It is not like you’re holding some legendary miracle drug that raises the dead.

Ning Jinghe clearly guessed Li Rui’s thoughts from his expression. He gripped the spray tighter and knocked on Yu Lin’s door.

Zhou Yao opened the door, his head tilted to hold his phone against his shoulder while he spoke aggressively to someone on the other end—likely directing the PR team at Lingxiao Media. The frown on his face was so deep it formed a sharp crease.

Seeing the two men at the door, Zhou Yao paused, gestured that he was still on the phone, and invited them in.

Ning Jinghe followed the fast-striding Li Rui inside.

Yu Lin was lying prone on the bed scrolling through his phone. His shirt was hiked up halfway over his lower back. The warm indoor light fell over him like a soft, ambiguous veil, but the “white porcelain” beneath it was stained by a bruise the size of a palm, which looked shockingly vivid.

The center was a deep, purplish black, looking even worse than the night before.

Hearing footsteps, Yu Lin turned his head and said lazily, “Why is everyone here? So lively.”

He then noticed Ning Jinghe’s gaze falling heavily on his waist. Those dark eyes were like a deep, bottomless pool.

Yu Lin unexpectedly read a myriad of complex emotions in his eyes and teased, “Brother, what are you looking at?”

“…Does it hurt?” Ning Jinghe asked.

Yu Lin blinked and set down his phone. “It hurts a lot. Brother Zhou Yao has no sense of proportion when applying the medicine; he nearly killed me with pain.”

Just as he finished speaking, Zhou Yao, who had been on the phone in the entryway, suddenly went silent. Five seconds later, he lunged to Yu Lin’s bedside, holding up his phone and wailing, “My ancestor! In just this short time, how did you take it upon yourself to post on Weibo again!”

Ning Jinghe glanced sideways. The phone screen showed Yu Lin’s Weibo homepage.

@ShenXingzhuo: Is this the kind of stunt double you were talking about? @MelonFieldWhispers [Video]